Foundation Herd

We raise every animal as if it were going to be fed at our table. And some of them do make it to our table. Just like you and me, our stock receive vaccines to ensure their health and well being. Just like you and me, they get periodic check ups. We take vitamins and minerals, and they do, too.

Unlike you and me, they are strictly vegetarians. Their pasture grasses consist of Bahia, Bermuda, Hermathria, Clover, and Lespedeza. But, we draw the line at organic fertilizer. Commercial fertilizer is much healthier for them, you and me than animal waste. We use all the legumes that our land will grow, and we think that they are great, but they are not enough.

In order for our stock to be finished for the table, they need a good finishing ration. We have used soy hull pellets and corn gluten for several years with very good results. Others sometimes talk about a finishing ration for 60, 90 or even 120 days. Ours have been on a finishing ration for over 180 days.

Cows

Our foundation herd was selected from Maulden Farms of Laurel, Mississippi, O'Brien Farm in Hanceville, Alabama, Santa Fe River Ranch in Alachua, Florida, and Sandhill Farms of Haviland, Kansas.

Our focus in the beginning was calving ease and growth. As time went along the focus gradually shifted to carcass quality. For about half of the first cows in our foundation herd, we consider further enhancement of their calving ease is needed. These cows are consistently bred to KCF Bennett H119. The other half can be bred to Grandview Platinum and achieve USDA choice in the first outcross.

Our first foundation purchases were guided by Lucian Welty of Welty Cattle Services. Lucian gave us many good tips that are still part of our program. Our association with Kevin Schultz of Sandhill Farms has led to our most meaningful genetic improvements. Kevin has been an excellent mentor, and we hope to continue our close association. We thank all those that have been a part of journey. We couldn't have done it without them. They are all such good folks.    List Cows & Access EPD's...

Calves

• Get them here.
• Keep them healthy.
• Measure their performance.
• Have a plan of what to do with them.

Sounds simple doesn't it. After over 40 years of raising cross bred cattle, we thought we knew what we were doing in these four simple steps in our cow calf operation.

However, these past five years have re-shaped our entire thought process, and it is a lesson that we can all learn new things about things we think we know a lot about. So when we talk to other cattle producers, we try to do a whole lot more listening than talking.

First, every calf born represents an investment in time, thought, and money. So be sure the cow is in the best health and you have chosen your sires well. Keep your calving season compact. Its hard to watch your cows closely enough, if your calves are coming along at just any time of the year.

Second, find a good veterinarian and use him or her to their fullest. They have a wealth of knowledge and can save you a lot heartaches and expense. Yes, their services cost, but it costs a lot more not to use them.

Third, measure their performance. Anne took a special accounting course a few years ago, and the theme was "What you measure, You can manage." There is a lot truth in that expression. When you know what your calves weigh, their weaning weights, yearling weights, the dam's weight at weaning, and many other meaningful numbers, You will soon begin to learn whether that cow has good healthy, growthy calves every year. If she doesn't why doesn't she, and more importantly what have you done about it? Aren't you the boss?

Fourth, do you depend on others to raise your replacements or do you keep your own replacements? How you answer this question will have a lot to do with your practices. Will you be producing feeder or herd sires? Again, how you answer this question will impact on your decisions. We believe nobody knows our business better than we do, and we raise our own replacement heifers and we produce sires for both commercial operations and seedstock operations. We put everything we know into all of our stock. We have faith that our efforts will be noticed, and we can share the value inherent in every animal from our farm. We believe in our stock and think you will too.

Replacement Heifers

When we select sires for our cows, we are mindful of the traits that we would like to add. If a cow or a cow's bloodline has ever experienced any calving difficulty, we will choose a sire that should convey calving ease to her offspring. While we never know in advance the sex the calves will be, we do know what we want for each cow for her next generation, and we have a pretty good idea what our sire selection will be for the second, third and fourth generation.

In the commercial cross breed business, the breeder thinks in terms of F1, F2, F3 etc. We are looking forward to achieving a Rib Eye Area, REA, EPD baseline of ".20", and Inter-Muscular Fat, IMF, EPD baseline of ".04" in our offspring. At these levels, we know that our stock will consistently grade USDA choice.

Next, we focus on enhancing the economic production factors of calving ease, growth, and fertility. As we achieve both quality and quantity we look at eye appeal, the "phenotype". For some folks, just having herefords is eye pleasing enough, but we are a little more picky. For us, the darker the red, the better. Conservative white marking with mostly red legs and a red neck is preferred. Red or brown around the eyes will ensure good eye pigmentation. All these traits can be seen in our bull "Patches 10N". The more I look at the bull, the better I like him. When we use a bull like him on our cows, we can be sure we'll have heifers that meet or exceed our expectations.    List Heifers & Access EPD's...

Bullocks & Steers

Do you ever think about what beef would taste like if it weren't full of growth hormones and feed from questionable sources?  Currently, we make arrangements for the slaughter of these animals by either the quarter, half or whole. We take orders and handle all schedule with Mr. Sanford Robert owner of Newberry Cold Storage and Chiefland Custom Meats. Mr. Roberts currently charges $40 for the slaughter of the animal and $.40 per pound of the hot weight to cut and wrap the meat. Our price is $1.00 per pound of the live weight of the animal.   More Information...